‘People’s Park’ finally set for £3.8m revamp
CAMPAIGNERS HAVE welcomed the successful outcome of years of effort to get a makeover for Hull’s oldest and smallest Victorian park, including restoring a lost bridge and bandstand.
Neglected features in Pearson Park – including its historic ornamental archway and gatekeeper’s house – will also be restored to their former glory, thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and topped up by the city council.
The £3.8m project, which already has planning permission, could take up to 18 months to complete. It marks the end of a long campaign by ward councillors and The Pearson Park Trust to get the funding.
Julie Archer, who lives in nearby Park Grove, visits regularly. She said: “I think it is brilliant. The park has some fantastic architectural heritage and a lot of history. It is beautiful at the moment but it is crying out to have its architecture restored.”
Remarkably, the original architectural drawings for the park – originally known as the People’s Park – have survived and will be used to build the bandstand as closely as possible to the one installed in 1893, in Oriental style and with lead-effect roof.
Cast iron railings will be installed at the gates to the park, and new decorative features, including urns, dolphins and tridents, which have been lost from the entrance way, recast.
East Lodge, originally home for the park’s gatekeeper but empty since the early 1980s, will now become a community centre.
The Bowling Pavilion and ice cream kiosk will also be restored and the 1930s conservatory replaced as part of the project, which has £800,000 match-funding from Hull Council.
Chairman of the Pearson Park Trust Coun John Fareham, who first wrote to the then-head of leisure services in 1983 saying the park needed a revamp, said HLF had been “very generous” in giving the project extra money.
“We are very grateful for their recognising the huge impact of the park to the area. The fact it is City of Culture has undoubtedly been a boost to our longstanding plans, but this has entirely been the work of the Pearson Park Trust and Hull Council members and officers.
“A lot of people have put many hours of hard work into this bid and it’s fantastic to see it pay off. The trust, Pearson family descendants and council officers in particular have offered so much commitment and support throughout this bid – huge thanks must be given to them.”
In 1860, Mayor Zachariah Pearson donated a 27-acre plot off Beverley Road to give somewhere for workers to enjoy some space and fresh air.
The plan was to reimburse the council through the sale of the villa plots around its periphery but after Pearson was declared bankrupt in 1864 the council was left to foot the bill
Chairman of the Friends of Pearson Park Helene O’Mullane said she was looking forward to seeing the archway and East Lodge restored.
She said: “It’s well used –come in summer and you can’t move. It’s just the buildings have come to the end of their tether.
“We want to carry on the heritage that the Victorians left us.”
Pearson Park is the latest to benefit from over £900m of National Lottery funding.
It is Grade II-listed and includes seven individually listed Grade II features, including a drinking fountain and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert statues.
HLF chief executive Ros Kerslake said: “It’s difficult to overstate the importance of our public parks. Vital to our wellbeing and essential to biodiversity, they are highly valued spaces enjoyed daily by people from all walks of life.”